the emptiness inside
by Champagnepony
Summary: Blackburn lives through his worst nightmare, coming home from a mission alone. Major character/s death warning


Important note—

This was not the story I had intended to write and certainly not the 1st story I thought I would post.

Every time I tried to write the feel good ending I had planned it felt forced and disjointed, so I left it where it wanted to end.

You stand forewarned, turn back now as nothing good happens past this point and I will go back to hiding in guest land.

Major character death

* * *

Eric Blackburn hadn't realized there could be anything worse then flying home with a covered coffin.

Then he had heard about Echo team, watched his counterpart from that crew solemnly board the plane home with 6 identical boxes, each containing little more than grief and regret and thought he had seen the most terrible way to end a mission, but now as he walked up the ramp of the C-17 he understood, he knew with soul crushing clarity that to return home with nothing, no men, no team, no coffins, that was a hell beyond anything he had ever imagined.

The report of a cave in from the local military positioned outside the mines entrance had been worrying, but comms underground were never reliable, so he had no reason to think Bravo was anywhere near the collapsed section, they were likely deep in the tunnel, still tracking their HVT.

It wasn't until after the silence had dragged on for hours and the drone had flown up and down the tunnels suspected path with no sign of movement that he had truly begun to fear.

The regional army who had been there on behalf of their government had started digging almost immediately, they had dug all through the day and into the next without reaching the end of the cave in.

Plans changed and they had moved further along, putting down a smaller vertical shaft and sending down cameras to take footage but the signal was weak, its range too limited to find anything, then a man had volunteered, his friends had been down there too.

Such a waste of a young, vibrant life. To lose a soldier in warfare was one thing but the brave man, whose name he didn't know, faced an enemy that couldn't be fought, Blackburn had felt the rumble under his feet as the next section of tunnel went down too and had known then that all was lost.

No more people could be sent into the dark, damp earth to lose their lives.

The tunnel wasn't shored sufficiently and the recent heavy rains had loosened the soil and now the whole area was subsiding and sinking.

More people came, with probes to search for any possible safe pockets where a man could shelter but as the days passed the hopelessness grew.

Eric made quiet phone calls, he had no news, nothing to add to the previous call or the one before that, but he made them anyway.

Naima, who hadn't the heart to tell the children and would smile all day for them, only to sit alone in the dark every night and weep.

Emma Hayes, too young to mourn another parent, to plan a funeral while coming to grips with the guardianship of a young boy who needed her more then she could comprehend.

Trent's girlfriend, so impulsive and bubbly that he had wondered in the past how on earth she and the patient, steadfast operator he knew had fitted together, but now learning of the inner strength behind her smile it became clearer.

Introducing himself to Brock's sister and listening to the childhood stories she needed to share to process her pain, through her, he began to understand the quiet, reserved man even more, although it was too late to matter.

Stella, who's worse nightmare had come true, the future she had imagined ripped away, leaving her grasping for something that would make sense of it all.

Lisa Davis, at first it had been a surprise to see her name as his contact but then Sonny had never been a long term relationship kind of man and Lisa was his oldest friend, going back before his green team days. The depth of her anguish had shaken Eric, making him realize how close they had been.

He didn't want to leave without them, he wanted to stay, to be here when the cadaver dogs arrived, to see them one last time, to bring them home.

To hear the promises that they would be treated with the same dignity as the native soldiers lost to the dark with them, simply wasn't enough. He still wanted to watch their backs, to protect them in death, to make up for failing them in life.

It wasn't his choice to go, the orders had been received, act of God or not someone had to explain the loss of an entire tier one team, questions required answers.

The navy had been his calling, his career, his whole way of life, he knew this would be the end of that and yet he didn't care.

Had it all been worth it, if this was where it had brought him?

He strapped himself into his seat and felt the tears running down his face as the engines wound up & the big aircraft lurched forward

It was two days after he landed that the call came through, the dogs had the scent, they had found Bravo.

Eric was in the war room while the live feed rolled, he couldn't bear to be anywhere else.

Clay came first, Brock was with him, Cerberus still latched to the harness around his waist.

It felt like a year passed as they cleared the rubble further along the tunnel, pulling up boulders and slipping in the shale.

Eric didn't believe it when a hand reached out through the small hole they made in the dirt.

Bravo two lead the way over the mud and into the light. Thinner, shaking but alive and unhurt.

Trent came next, turning as he emerged to reach back and pull an injured Sonny up to freedom.

Next came faces Blackburn only knew from photographs, men who fought for a different flag but the same cause.

He waited, hoping, praying, then finally Jason crawled into view, shaking his head as they asked if anyone else was down there.

Eric wouldn't have had to ask, Bravo one would never leave a man behind, would never leave the battlefield until every soldier under his command was accounted for.

His heart broke anew as he watched them cry over their fallen brothers, how long had they called in the dark for them, not knowing the reply would never come?

They buried Clay and Brock side by side, brothers for eternity.

The brass had resisted when it was requested Brock's dog be buried with him but retreated as the operators stood their ground, prepared to go into battle one last time for their friends.

Bravo would ride again, they would go willingly into hell, shoulder to shoulder, to make the world a safer place, they would train new rookies to be the best, to expect the best, to live up to the name created by those who had gone before them.

For Eric it would never be quite the same, he had lived the true hell, the one that crept up on you when you thought you were safe and he knew that it was always waiting in the shadows.


End file.
